An introduction to Twitter - now with added readability (and improved sound!)
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0:03 - 0:08Twitter can be described as a "micro-blogging" social networking site.
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0:08 - 0:13So what do the terms "micro-blogging" and "social networking" actually mean?
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0:13 - 0:20Social networking means talking to people over the internet rather than face to face or over the phone.
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0:20 - 0:25Critics often think social networking is simply others taking pictures of their breakfast and sending these out in to the world.
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0:25 - 0:28Yet it can also be used to find interesting people,
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0:28 - 0:31have discussions with people you might otherwise never normally meet,
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0:31 - 0:36enhance offline relationships, or even to promote your business.
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0:36 - 0:41"Micro-blogging" comes from the older concept of a blog, short for "web log",
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0:41 - 0:45where you can write your own articles or diary and publish them online.
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0:45 - 0:49Twitter is different because you have to say everything in 140 characters at a time.
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0:49 - 0:53This allows for two or three short sentences at most!
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0:53 - 0:59'Twitter' has been around for 6 years now and as of 2012 has over 10 million active users in the UK alone.
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0:59 - 1:03It is a tool which can be used on the move – many smart phones have programmes which
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1:03 - 1:07allow you to tweet even if you aren’t at a desktop computer.
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1:07 - 1:13Twitter allows for extremely quick communication, and it allows for very rapid spread of information,
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1:13 - 1:19or discussions to take place on the move from anywhere. It is having large scale changes on the world.
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1:19 - 1:23People ‘live tweet’ at events, sharing the discussions which are taking place,
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1:23 - 1:25with an audience who are not present,
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1:25 - 1:29often directly quoting speakers, or summarising arguments made.
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1:29 - 1:36Journalism is changing, with newspapers and Hansard citing tweets from celebrities or notable figures as quotes,
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1:36 - 1:40and many journalists finding stories from Twitter.
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1:40 - 1:45And even the process of watching the television is changing. As a programme is being broadcast,
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1:45 - 1:49those watching often tweet comments and engage in discussions with their followers.
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1:49 - 1:49Those watching often tweet comments or engage in discussions with their followers.
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1:49 - 1:55Increasingly, institutions like the BBC are actively encouraging participation in this way.
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1:55 - 2:01For example, BBC Question Time has an authorised account called ‘BBCQT Extra Guest'
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2:01 - 2:06which tweets comment and thoughts during broadcasts, stimulating online debate.
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2:06 - 2:09Programmes such as BBC Free Speech, aimed at a younger audience,
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2:09 - 2:14go further and incorporate social media users directly into live broadcasts,
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2:14 - 2:17as well as Twitter analytics.
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2:17 - 2:22They also choose their subject matter by monitoring popular topics and trends of their core audience,
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2:22 - 2:27making the experience a lot more interactive and relevant to those taking part.
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2:27 - 2:30So, what actually happens when you use Twitter? You don't talk to everyone at once,
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2:30 - 2:33and nor do you see everything all users are saying.
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2:33 - 2:36If you want to see what someone has written, you have to find them.
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2:36 - 2:41You can passively monitor discussions as a non-twitter user, through any normal search engine.
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2:41 - 2:45However, if you want to actively use twitter, and engage yourself, you will need an account.
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2:45 - 2:54The first thing you will need to do is go to the website – www.twitter.com
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2:54 - 3:01You’ll see a box with the label “New to Twitter”. Enter your details and click “sign up”.
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3:01 - 3:07An important thing to consider is a suitable username: this is how you will be referred to on twitter.
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3:07 - 3:11It should be memorable, and consistent with any other corporate branding.
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3:11 - 3:15Due to character limits of tweets, shorter user names are better.
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3:15 - 3:20You will be prompted to create a short bio and add a web link,
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3:20 - 3:22both of which you can edit later.
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3:22 - 3:27You will also be asked to upload a user icon. People will associate this with you,
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3:27 - 3:30and the image will be displayed next to your tweets,
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3:30 - 3:34so again make it count and tie it into any corporate branding you may have.
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3:34 - 3:36You now have an account!
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3:36 - 3:43Twitter will prompt you to ‘follow’ famous and popular accounts in various fields.
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3:43 - 3:46This means that their tweets will show up in your Twitter feed.
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3:46 - 3:50Don’t feel bad about the choices you make right now about who to follow.
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3:50 - 3:54You can follow or unfollow people at any time.
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3:54 - 3:59You can use the search function to find accounts for people who you are interested in following.
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3:59 - 4:05You can also search specific areas of interest, and receive suggestions of people to follow,
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4:05 - 4:08although the list returned won’t be comprehensive.
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4:08 - 4:12The list of people you are following will likely build up over time.
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4:12 - 4:16One of the best things about Twitter is finding new people with multiple shared
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4:16 - 4:20interests that you would not normally come across.
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4:20 - 4:23There are a lot of celebrities on Twitter,
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4:23 - 4:26and these accounts tend to have a large number of followers.
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4:26 - 4:30Follow them if you want, but unless you are a high profile user yourself,
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4:30 - 4:34you are unlikely to have the same level of engagement as you might with someone with fewer followers.
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4:34 - 4:36If the account is to be a professional one,
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4:36 - 4:39you will need to make a business decision about who to follow.
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4:39 - 4:43Will it be all those who follow you, just those who seem to be a likely customer base
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4:43 - 4:46or indeed just a few select people?
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4:46 - 4:49Using lists can help you manage your feed;
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4:49 - 4:53If you’re following a large number of people then your feed may become “filled up”
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4:53 - 4:55and you may miss out on tweets you are interested in.
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4:55 - 4:59Organising people by subject area, location, or interests
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4:59 - 5:03can help to keep you updated and informed, without becoming overwhelmed.
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5:03 - 5:07Once you’ve set up your account, you can use Twitter in a passive fashion,
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5:07 - 5:10simply watching your feed, and reading what people are tweeting.
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5:10 - 5:14However, one of the benefits of using Twitter is the ability to engage with a large number of people.
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5:14 - 5:21It can be useful to take time to see how others use twitter first before tweeting yourself.
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5:21 - 5:25There are four main ways to use Twitter: you can
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5:25 - 5:28•send a tweet from your account,
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5:28 - 5:33•direct a reply to someone else’s account (either in a reply to one of their tweets or simply ‘to’, them)
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5:33 - 5:37•you can do what is termed as a “Retweet”
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5:37 - 5:39•and you can use the private messaging function.
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5:39 - 5:42So, let’s explain what these terms mean:
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5:42 - 5:47To send a tweet, enter your text into the box on the left hand side of the screen,
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5:47 - 5:49and then hit the Send button.
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5:49 - 5:56This text needs to be 140 characters or fewer, so you may need to rephrase what you initially intended to say.
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5:56 - 6:01It is quite a skill to be able to get everything you want to say into such a short amount of space!
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6:01 - 6:06Ampersands are your friend, as are dashes and contractions.
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6:06 - 6:11It is best to be concise, but if you must, you can run on to multiple tweets.
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6:11 - 6:17When doing so, it is best to label this clearly so as not to be taken out of context.
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6:17 - 6:22You can link to websites in your tweets – although web addresses can be long.
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6:22 - 6:25In order to reduce the number of characters an address uses,
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6:25 - 6:29you can use a link shortener like bit.ly or Tiny URL.
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6:29 - 6:32Twitter does have an automatic one, but it can be temperamental.
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6:32 - 6:35You can also add photographs to tweets.
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6:35 - 6:39This is a good way to share experiences and generate interest.
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6:39 - 6:43On another note, blogs can be set up to auto-publish links to Twitter,
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6:43 - 6:47which is a good way to make sure people will see all the communication you have.
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6:47 - 6:53An important aspect of Twitter is its hashtags. They work a little like a tagging system,
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6:53 - 6:57helping to sort posts on the same topic into the same space.
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6:57 - 7:01Clicking on these will bring up other users’ tweets on the subject.
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7:01 - 7:07This is also a good way of seeing instant reactions to events,
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7:07 - 7:10as well as gauging popular opinion on a particular topic.
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7:10 - 7:14Whilst there are some hashtags which are formal and established,
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7:14 - 7:17anyone can create a new one.
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7:17 - 7:21However, it is advisable to check that these hashtags aren’t being used for other purposes,
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7:21 - 7:25or do not have an unintended meaning.
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7:25 - 7:29The second way of using twitter is to interact with people. To reply to someone,
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7:29 - 7:35type the ‘@’ button and then the [username] of that person/ Alternatively,
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7:35 - 7:37Alternatively, click reply under a specific tweet.
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7:37 - 7:43This is useful as it creates a discussion thread, making it easier to follow a conversation.
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7:43 - 7:47Consider it like a text message, albeit a public one,
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7:47 - 7:52although you don’t need to be following someone in order to reply to them.
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7:52 - 7:55Usernames are included in the 140 characters of a tweet,
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7:55 - 7:59so this is also why it is important to have a short username.
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7:59 - 8:04When you have responded, people will receive an alert. You can see your replies in your connect tab.
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8:04 - 8:11Retweets are like forwarding an email: if you find something interesting in your feed
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8:11 - 8:13written by someone else, you can ‘retweet’ it.
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8:13 - 8:16This republishes it in your timeline where your followers will be able to see it.
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8:16 - 8:18It will still be attributed to the original poster.
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8:18 - 8:23Seeing retweets in your own feed is a good way of finding new accounts you may want to follow.
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8:23 - 8:28It’s important to remember that twitter is a public communication tool.
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8:28 - 8:33Anyone who follows you or searches for your account can see any of your tweets you have made.
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8:33 - 8:38However, only those who follow you will see your tweets in their twitterfeed,
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8:38 - 8:42and if you start a tweet with an @ sign and a username,
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8:42 - 8:48the only people who will see this conversation in their feed will be those who follow both of you.
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8:48 - 8:53If you want to tweet at someone and be seen to be doing so by all your followers,
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8:53 - 8:58the standard convention is to put a full stop before the @ sign.
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8:58 - 9:03Twitter also has a private messaging function, called ‘Direct messages’.
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9:03 - 9:06These can only be sent to people who follow you.
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9:06 - 9:11To see these messages you have received, go to your inbox in the top right corner.
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9:11 - 9:19You can delete tweets. We recommend not to do it too often although it can be useful for fixing spelling mistakes.
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9:19 - 9:25Please remember that anyone viewing your feed can also “screen capture” tweets you can still be quoted,
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9:25 - 9:28even if you deleted the tweets.
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9:28 - 9:32When starting out, you need to decide several things about the ‘voice’ of your account.
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9:32 - 9:35Will it be a corporate or a personal voice?
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9:35 - 9:40If there is a specific need to have a particular impartiality, say as the BBC or news outlet,
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9:40 - 9:45then perhaps it will be important to have separate accounts for the broadcasts and for interactions.
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9:45 - 9:50If working from a corporate account, check the social media guidelines of the organisation:
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9:50 - 9:52there might be particular rules.
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9:52 - 9:54Take into account what you will be doing and saying,
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9:54 - 9:58and how you will interact, remembering twitter is a public communication tool.
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9:58 - 10:06This goes without saying, but keep your tweets legal – pay particular attention to data protection and contempt of court laws.
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10:06 - 10:10It is also important to remember that tweeting is considered publication,
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10:10 - 10:12and so is subject to libel laws.
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10:12 - 10:15Although it is easy to think of twitter as a table of friends in the pub,
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10:15 - 10:18it’s a pub that the rest of the world is in as well.
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10:18 - 10:25One of the most exciting aspects of Twitter is its ability for a quick fire response with your user base.
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10:25 - 10:30Some responses can happen immediately as your tweets show up on other peoples’ feeds,
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10:30 - 10:33and news can travel very quickly.
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10:33 - 10:39This is good, because you can hear feedback much faster than older communication routes.
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10:39 - 10:44Because of the ease of response, you will need to consider which tweets you will be replying to,
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10:44 - 10:49and how; particularly if the account is a mouthpiece for a larger organisation.
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10:49 - 10:54Twitter is essentially a large, intricate mass of word of mouth.
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10:54 - 10:59You need to discover a sense of who is trustworthy and a credible source of information,
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10:59 - 11:03but this will become clear the more familiar you become with your network.
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11:03 - 11:09This guide has focused on showing you how to use Twitter on its website, but you may prefer another client,
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11:09 - 11:12like Seismic or Tweetdeck which work slightly differently
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11:12 - 11:16Similarly smart phones have official clients that work quite well.
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11:16 - 11:20Whilst this guide has covered the basics, there is a lot more to consider,
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11:20 - 11:23which we will explore in future guides.
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11:23 - 11:25Safe Tweeting.
- Title:
- An introduction to Twitter - now with added readability (and improved sound!)
- Description:
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The updated version to "An introduction to Twitter" made by Michelle Brook (@MLBrook), Dana Bubulj, (@PinstripeOwl) and Ceri Jones (@LiberatedWomble) with Antony Carpen (c/o @Puffles2010).
We worked out how to improve the footage and re-recorded the audio using better equipment. We also polished the script too. Hope you like it!
- Video Language:
- English, British
Ceri Jones edited English subtitles for An introduction to Twitter - now with added readability (and improved sound!) | ||
Ceri Jones added a translation |